F1 News: 2014 Belgian GP Qualifying – Sauber F1 Team

August 23, 2014

Shell Belgian Grand Prix – Qualifying – Saturday, 23.08.2014

Weather: wet/dry and overcast/sunny, 10-13°C air, 17-22°C track

Qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps saw Adrian Sutil clinch 14th position, while Esteban Gutiérrez was stuck on P20. Once again over the course of this weekend he became a victim of technical issues. In Q1 there was a problem with the battery pack, which forced him to stop out on the track.

Esteban Gutiérrez (car number 21):
Sauber C33-Ferrari (Chassis 01/Ferrari)
Qualifying: 20th in Q1 (2:13.414 min / wet tyres)
3rd practice: 18th (1:51.898 min / soft tyres / 15 laps)
“It has been an unfortunate weekend so far. It is very disappointing considering all the technical issues. The team is pushing hard to put everything together. Also from my side, I am trying to extract the most out of the car. However, under the current circumstances we are very limited on track time. With the mixed conditions it makes it even more challenging, and it is very difficult to get the most out of what we have. It is an unacceptable situation, and we need to change something to sort out all the technical issues. We have to make sure it does not happen again in the next sessions.”

Adrian Sutil (car number 99):
Sauber C33-Ferrari (Chassis 03/Ferrari)
Qualifying: 14th in Q2 (2:10.238 min / intermediate tyres)
3rd practice: 15th (1:50.962 min / soft tyres / 12 laps)
“Again a wet qualifying in Spa, the same as last year. It was difficult to assess the situation on track, especially trying to work out how much water was still in the corners. Particularly during the rainy sessions, the car is still difficult to drive. Based on the weather forecast for tomorrow’s race, we chose a dry car set-up for qualifying which resulted in the balance of the car not being optimal. Under these circumstances we can be happy and it was important to finish qualifying without making mistakes. The team did a good job, and I got the best out of the car. I am satisfied with the outcome of qualifying.”

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal:
“Adrian put in a solid performance and got what we could expect here. We will see tomorrow what this means for the race. Regarding Esteban, it is disappointing that his weekend has so far been dominated by problems with the powertrain. This makes it very difficult for him and his crew to find the optimal set-up for the car, because track time is so limited. No doubt he is in a difficult position for the race.”

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering:
“It was a challenging session with difficult weather conditions. However, on the procedural side of things everything went smoothly and the team did a good job. Unfortunately once again we lost a car due to a technical issue with the powertrain. Esteban had to stop out on the track due to a problem with the battery pack. This is frustrating because we are losing valuable time in preparation for the race. Adrian did solid job and is more or less where we can realistically expect to be. Now we have to make the best out of this for the race.”